A Katherii Carol
by Jesuslovesmarina
Summary: Fourteen-year-old Katherii Skywalker doesn't think she can live up to her parent's legacy of becoming a Jedi Master. After all, Luke and Mara Jade died when she was only a toddler. But after she finds herself in trouble with the law, and with her even 'scarier' Uncle Han, she is visited in the night by three ghosts, each with a message that could change her life forever...
1. Chapter 1

A/N

Back in 2012, I made the erroneous decision to watch the "Star Wars Holiday Special" from the 70's. I was a nerd and Star Wars was my fandom, so how bad could an old TV production, with all the original actors playing Han, Luke, and Leia in their heyday before Return of the Jedi was even filmed, possibly be? Sounded like a gold mine at first.

Take my word and don't go and watch it. Just don't. It really is bad.

This was the first real story I ever completed start to finish. I'm very proud of it and it's the first one my dad gave me some sincere compliments on, if that's any indication. It's partly my attempt at writing a, hopefully MUCH, better Christmas special than the real one. I originally wrote it in TV script format and have been editing it into story format over the last few days, just for you guys.

So, enjoy this reentry into the AU Star Wars world, in honor of the new episode. (Which is awesome and crazy if you haven't seen it yet. No spoilers!).

Also, this season remember God With Us, born to save you and me, and who lives today. And if you don't think Jesus as your savior makes any sense, shoot me a PM! I'd love to take on the challenge, not of converting you because that's not my place, but of sharing beliefs and the evidence for or against them.

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

P.S. Oh, and meet Katherii!

A Katherii Carol

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!"

Anakin Solo stood outside his parent's living quarters, bouncing lightly on the fake turf that surrounded the door. Why was it taking so long? He was in a hurry to get back to the Academy, and he honestly wasn't looking forward to the conversation he was about to have with his dad.

The door finally slid open, and Leia's graceful figure appeared in the hallway.

"Hi, Mom!" Anakin's blue eyes crinkled around the edges.

"Anakin! What a surprise!" Leia hugged him excitedly, leading him into the main living area.

"A good surprise or a bad surprise?" he replied wryly.

"Oh, don't tell me this is about Katherii," his mother groaned, plopping down on a floor-level seating cushion beside him. "I don't know what to do with that girl."

"Well, neither do I. Mother, you really should do a better job of raising your children," he quipped, earning him a playful slap on the arm.

"I think you have enough to worry about with your own. Sidler's getting headstrong. You'd better watch him; he'll end up like his old grandfather," she smiled, raising her voice just a little as Han walked into the room.

"Or grandmother," Han retorted, faking a glare at his wife as he took a seat beside them, vigorously shaking his son's hand. "Gee. So what did Katherii do today?"

Anakin leaned back with a tense grin. "Let's just say that if she would actually help, the Library would be a lot farther along than it is right now."

"I was about to ask. You smell of construction work," Leia remarked.

"I'll talk to her," Han replied with a groan.

"Well," Anakin squirmed, "Dad, you see…"

"See what?"

He put up his hands. "Look. Most of my part-time students are just great. They really are. They work hard, and they support the Academy and the Jedi with all the time they can spare. But there's a couple who have narrowly avoided a very steep jails record…"

"Oh, no," Leia groaned loudly, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"And they have enough money to get in all the trouble they can find, after school hours. Those are the crowd Katherii's hanging out with. If she was just messing around with friends instead of working on the Library, I'd say, yeah, just talk to her again. But not if she keeps spending time with those kids."

Han looked grave.

"Sometime I cannot believe that girl is actually my brother's daughter," Leia muttered.

"HI AUNT LEIA! HI UNCLE HAN! Oh, holy crap, what's Anakin doing here?" demanded the lanky blonde, stopping short en route to her bedroom. Her clunky backpack, slung over one shoulder, now slipped to the floor beside her.

"Talking with your uncle," Anakin hinted.

Katherii's face fell. "Ohhhh…about that," she deadpanned, knowing she was in trouble. "Uncle Han, he's totally overreacting. I can explain—everything—and I know you won't—"

"Sit down," Leia interrupted crisply, moving over on the floor seat.

Rolling her eyes, Katherii strutted over and dumped her backpack in front of the three others before popping down beside her. "Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to help with the library," she muttered under her breath.

"Well, too bad!" Han exclaimed, not feeling sorry for her at all. "It's part of being in school!"

"Nobody ever—" Katherii hesitated, her features growing red and angry, but a little nervous at the same time. She began again, in a quieter, but still furious, tone. "Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to be part of the Jedi Academy, either!"

When nobody responded, she continued. "I'm seriously at the only school in the Republic that isn't okay with having a little fun with the guys!"

"That was completely out of context, Kathy," Anakin frowned heavily.

"What 'guys', exactly?" Han demanded across from her.

Katherii's eyes flitted around, nervously, as Anakin shot Han a glance that said 'I told you so'.

After a long, disturbing moment, Leia spoke up. "That's what we were afraid of."

"Go to your room, Kathy," Han said quietly, his face grave.

Katherii stood up, not changing her sullen expression, grabbed her backpack and walked to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

...

As soon as she was gone, Han groaned and rolled his eyes, stretching his arms over his head. "What am I gonna do with her?" he pouted to Leia.

Leia gave him a wry smile. "She's not much like any of our children, that's for sure."

"Yeah, she's more like ME. How that works, don't even try to explain to me."

"She's not like YOU," Anakin defended him. "She's just—wild."

"Uncontrollable," Leia added.

"Completely insane," Anakin finished.

Han didn't quite know how to respond to that, so he just gave them a look.

"I guess I'll put her to work tomorrow," Anakin shrugged. "Give her something to do. Keep her out of trouble for a while—I hope."

Han shrugged. "She doesn't have any classes. Might as well try."

Leia laid a hand on Han's shoulder. "Are you sure you'll be all right here for the month? It's a long time for me to be away—I can always take her with—"

Han started shaking his head in protest before she could even finish. "No, no, no, no, no; you go see Gabrialla on Coruscant and have a nice time. You've got work to do—Katherii and I will be just fine." He squirmed away from Anakin slightly at the incredulous smirk his son was giving him. "WHAT?" he protested.

"Good luck," his son predicted, a dark, ominous smile TOTALLY uncouth for the Grand Master of the New Jedi Order, spread across his face predicting the woes to come.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. In my dreams doesn't count, sadly. (:

Chapter 2

The next day, it snowed. Soft clouds of flakes fell softly around the sloping lawn of the Jedi Academy on Yavin. Most of it melted before it hit the grass, but, because most of the equipment for the new library was fashioned of metal or plastoid, Katherii's overeager cousin still insisted she had to do her work.

Grumpily, she stood outside in the cold, her leather-worn jacket growing sweaty from the physical work as she left her thick goggles over her eyes, welding two halves of a metal piece of shelving back together.

She couldn't see anything through the huge glasses, but a crunch on the near-frozen yellow grass let her know someone was coming up behind her. She killed the fuse and the shower of sparks faded from view as she lifted her goggles from her straggling hairdo and set them down on the shelf.

"Hey, Kathy, babe!"

"Lanie!" her face broke into a grin when she saw who it was. "Wassup, love?" she spread her arms wide and felt his arms wrap around her jacket in a fierce, hearty embrace. Gagghhh, she loved this guy. And the snow falling around them as their jackets pressed together in the cold made it all the more satisfying to be close to him. They weren't officially together yet, but hey.

He started to pull away, but she kept her arms around his waist, locked in a tight grip as she looked up at him expectantly. "Doing anything fun tonight?"

He snorted. "Why else would I come and find you when we're off of class?" His voice dropped to a low whisper. "We're just hopping over to the 'works tomorrow night. Can you come?" His voice shifted to pleading. "All the folks'll be there."

"Ha!" Katherii shoved him playfully in the chest. "How many is 'all the folks'? You know I'm only in if there's a big crowd."

"Who cares?" Lanie took her hand, rubbing it affectionately. His voice dropped to a romantic tone, slow and husky. "You could make the whole party, just by yourself. You and me. Maybe bring out the racers. It'll be wild."

Katherii's heart beat faster, and she struggled to keep up a neutral front. "Aunt Leia will be leaving for Coruscant that night," she whispered. "I can come up with a good excuse to stay behind, I think. We'll see. If they let me say goodbye at home, while they're all out—I could just—disappear."

"I'll take that as a yes."

Lanie kept hold of her hand, making no move to leave.

Katherii smirked. "I'll see you, too."

She pressed a hand to his arm, moving firmly away from him before turning back to her welding. He turned to leave, disappointed she hadn't kissed him first.

She'd save that for later.

...

"POUND, POUND, POUND!"

It was an exact replica of what'd happened the day before.

Only this time it was much more serious.

"Dad! Open up!"

Han poked his head out the door, wide awake despite the cold and the lateness when he saw the urgent look on Anakin's face. The Three Moons shone brightly overhead, but a soft darkness still pervaded the area.

"Did you leave Katherii at home tonight?" Anakin was breathless.

Han looked alarmed. "Yeah, why?" his brow furrowed.

Anakin groaned, looking a tiny bit ashamed. "I just found out some of the Padawans have some kind of mischief planned up by the plant for tonight. Something about racing, something about vandalism, something about 'party goods', etc."

Han blinked, half realizing what he was saying and half not. "What…?"

Anakin gave him an exasperated look. "Dad, Katherii's practically a ringleader of this group."

Han looked a little scared. "You're not going to trust me that she's safe in bed where she belongs?"

Anakin shook his head slightly. "Go check if you want," his voice was almost prim.

Han looked like he was about to move, but he didn't. "What are we supposed to do about it?" he challenged.

"She's your niece!"

"She's your student!"

"You wanna go try to haul her out of there? I mean, she acts like she knows what she's doing but she IS only fourteen. She could get seriously hurt."

"You're right," Han decided, frowning. He grabbed his coat and nearly barreled out the door after his son.

"Of course, you could always call the police," Anakin suggested as they headed toward one of the speeders parked in the street.

Han's comlink buzzed at his side. He stared down at it, then slowly looked up at Anakin. "Good idea," he replied sarcastically.

...

"Why'd you do it?"

Katherii didn't look up at her uncle as he sat beside her on the bench. Staring down at the sling that held her fractured arm in place, she shifted wordlessly to the left, leaving a space between the two of them.

When Han didn't say any more, she finally lifted an eyebrow and muttered, "Why shouldn't I have?" It was stupid, but she didn't really have any better excuses at the moment.

"Well," he replied, surprisingly sounding somewhat calm, "the most important reason is that you could've gotten yourself killed."

She could've come up with a not-so-lame response, but she didn't feel like it right now. "I could've gotten myself killed this morning while walking to school in a rich and benign neighborhood. A speeder could've come along unexpectedly and smashed me into a flatcake."

Han sat there for a long moment before getting up, slowly heading out of the room. Katherii hung her head.

Then he stopped.

Changing his mind, he headed back over to her, shifting so he was sitting next to her on the bench again.

Annoyed, Katherii got up and walked around to the other end of the bench. Why couldn't he just leave her alone?

Sure enough, he got up, followed her, and sat down next to her again.

Angry this time, Katherii stood and walked around to the OTHER end, but he followed her AGAIN! She switched directions in an attempt to push him away from her, but he moved next to her again. Katherii clamped her lips shut. She would NOT laugh. She would not. This was not funny at—

"STOP!" she finally screamed, throwing herself at him. Weakly, she hit him on the chest with her good fist, still trying to choke back her laughter. Han was trying not to laugh himself. "Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! Just leave me alone!"

"Why are you running away from me?" Han exclaimed, stopping her fist gently with both of his hands.

"Because! You're—big, and mean, and scary…and I don't like—"

"And all the police officers our there aren't as scary as me?"

"No!" she insisted.

Han burst out laughing.

Katherii laughed too at first, but then she got angry again. He was trying to manipulate her out of her shell, and she wasn't about to have it. Frustrated, she quieted, turning away from him and storming over to the corner of the room.

Han stopped, sighing heavily. "Look, kiddo, we've got talk about this."

Katherii narrowed her eyes and didn't turn around. "If you have to know," she said bitterly, "I did it because of how I feel. And how I feel is none of your business. I couldn't explain it to you even if I tried, anyway."

Han quieted, not knowing what he could say to that.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Han was somewhat sleepless that night, for obvious reasons. For most of it after coming home with Kathy, he ended up lying in bed staring up at the ceiling. Bored and troubled, he started talking to thin air, not for any particular reason.

Maybe people who were gone already could hear him when he spoke. Maybe they couldn't. Either way, he could try.

"You knew I would be too old to raise a teenager," he muttered into the air. "You knew I would be! So _why_ did you give her to me? You—you always knew everything."

He paused for a while, thinking. Then, with a snort, he continued. "Of course, that never stopped you from being really magnificently stupid sometimes. Mara Jade was like that, too. You were both nuts." He frowned slightly. "Which would explain, I guess, why you gave Kathy to me."

...

Katherii was also awake, her arm still bandaged, but now out of the sling. Her hair was spread out over her pillow and the wind begins to blow harder outside.

Sensing something unusual outside, she sat up suddenly.

The window flew open, crashing against the side of the wall as snow began to blow inside her room, filling the whole area with a rush of cold air.

Katherii leaped out of bed, aghast, and rushed over to it, grabbing the window pane with her good hand. She tried with all her might to wrestle it shut but the wind was too strong. She strained, but it was almost as if it was growing harder just to mess with her. "AARGH!" she swung around with a powerful Force-kick, slamming it shut at last.

That crisis averted, she collapsed in a heap with her back against the wall, breathing hard. A cloud of snow and light suddenly caught her attention, swirling in a column within her bedroom. Her eyes grew huge.

Staring agape, Katherii watched as the column spun and turned and writhed as it took on the form of a robed Jedi; a ghost, but his hood over his face so that he was completely unrecognizable.

Katherii's heart thudded in her chest. Was this her fault? Had she brought this on herself by being such a horrible Jedi, uncommitted to her family legacy? Unable to think of what to do next, she leaped to her feet and screamed. "UNCLE HAN!"

The figure turned around.

"Save your voice," it instructed, its tone annoyed but not harsh. "You're only dreaming."

Katherii stumbled across her room to her nightstand and grabbed her lightsaber. She held it up to the ghost, unwilling to turn it on yet until she knew who it really was. "Who are you," she panted, demanding, "and what are you doing in MY room?"

When he didn't respond, she turned and swung her right foot upwards, aiming the kick directly toward his head. Her foot went right through him and, caught off balance, she yelped in fright and toppled to the floor in a tangle.

The ghost stepped aside slightly, so as not to be in her way, and began to laugh. He had the laugh of a young man, strangely unfamiliar to her, but not what she would have expected in a ghost.

"You—you poodoo ruffian!" Katherii spluttered, getting to her feet as the ghost removed his hood. "What did you just do?! Answer me!"

"I didn't do anything!" the ghost chuckled. "You went right through me! I'm sorry," trying to stop and explain. "I've had this one planned out for months," he shrugged.

"What?" Katherii was about at her wits' end.

He smiled gently. "I'm sorry I scared you, Katherii Skywalker."

"How do you know my name?" she gulped.

"Let me explain," he smiled again. "When a parent becomes one with the Force, they're allowed to come back ONE time to help out their kid if they're in trouble. So— I'm here."

"You mean, you're dead."

He looked offended. "Excuse me?"

Katherii held up her hands. "Wai—no, no, no, no, no; I didn't mean it like that—I just meant—"

The ghost waved it off, but still looked a little disconcerted. There was an awkward pause.

Finally Katherii processed what he'd said before. "But—uh, I've seen holographs of my dad. You don't look anything like him."

The ghost frowned. "Why would I be your dad?"

"You're too tall to be my dad," she explained.

"Why would I be your dad?" he repeated.

"Well, you just said!" she threw up her hands in exasperation. "All that, about the parents coming back to the kid, and now you say—"

The ghost spoke in an even, serious tone. "Do you really think that after the way you've treated him, your dad would come back to this world for YOU?"

"Treated him?" Katherii asked in a small voice.

"Everything he left you!" the ghost exclaimed harshly. "Your power. Your future as a Jedi. Your Aunt Leia and Uncle Han. A legacy."

Katherii rolled her eyes, sighing. "A legacy."

"You've always had everything you needed to prove yourself, and you let all of that go just so you could do stupid things with your friends," the ghost insisted. "Yeah, sure," he continued sarcastically, "your dad would just love to show up to help you out of the mess you've made." He sat down on the bed, a disgusted look on his face."You're lucky he even sent ME."

Katherii was silent for a moment. "Well—who are you, then?" she finally asked.

The ghost shrugged. "I'm just your grandfather."

"You are not," she shot up straight, deadpanning.

The ghost, half smiling, answered her just as quickly. "Yes, I am."

"No, you're not," she insisted, looking him over head to toe. How could her grandfather, Darth Vader and a former Jedi Master, be this nerfherding snark who looked like he could've just come from the same party as her? She could've even danced with him and not know the difference. That thought brought on an irrepressible shudder.

Anakin stood up proudly, as if to make a point. "My name is Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Master. Also known as 'the dead guy who used to be Darth Vader'. And I am YOUR grandfather."

She was out of excuses. "Alright, I get it."

He grinned. "Come here, Katherii," he invited, with a mischievous tone in his voice.

She got up slowly. "What? You gonna bounce me on your knee and tell me everything's gonna be okay?"

"Sit down!" Anakin urged her with a smile. "I took all this trouble with coming to the Old World. At least give me a grandfatherly talk with my youngest grandchild."

Katherii sighed and flopped down on the bed beside him.

"Being a Jedi Master sounds boring, doesn't it?"

Katherii couldn't restrain from an embarrassed wince. Of course. This was why he was here.

"Am I boring you?" he asked.

" _NO,_ " she replied flatly.

He smiled slightly. "You know what it really means when they call someone a Jedi Master?"

She sighed. "What?"

"A Jedi Master _knows_ what's important. And then, he _does_ what's important."

Katherii raised an eyebrow, as if to say ' _totally lame…'_

"It's harder than it sounds, but, that's all."

"That's it?" she replied skeptically. "To be a _Jedi Master_?"

"Uh-huh. If you know what you should and should not do and what you should or should not spend your time on, and you do it, you're good to go. It's not that complicated. If it was, there would probably be _more_ Jedi Masters than there are."

Katherii sat in thought for a moment, trying to figure out what he meant.

Anakin got up, turning toward the window. His tone dropped to a mysterious one. "Let me tell you what is going to happen tonight."

She looked up.

"You're going to have several visitors."

"More dead p—I mean, more ghosts?" she frowned.

He nodded. "Two more. I can't tell you who they'll be, but your dad is sending us and he knows what he's doing. Oh! And, Kathy?"

She raised her head to listen, still sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Listen to what these people tell you," he warned her soberly. "You will never get a chance like this again. If tonight doesn't change you—your dad can't do anything more for you."

He looked toward the window.

"Nice meeting you, Kathy."

The window opened, and he slowly melted away into a cloud just like the one he'd arrived in. Slowly, all the snow and light faded away, and the door shut behind him, leaving the room empty.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Katherii flew up in bed like a bullet crack, her eyes wild. Unable to think of what to do next, she let out a long, piercing scream.

Footsteps pounded through the hall. The door slid open, Han sticking his head through the doorway. Katherii stopped screaming.

"WHAT is going on in here?!" Han yelled. "It's four in the morning, Kathy!"

She gasped for breath, managing a small smile. "I—I was just checking to see—if I was still dreaming!" She laughed slightly, making Han even more confused. "Sorry! You can—go back to bed…now. Heh—heh."

"Are—you sure?"

"—Yes?" she replied timidly.

Han took another quick look around, gave her a skeptical look, and closed the door back.

As soon as he was gone, Katherii leapt up from bed. She opened the window, slamming it shut again and locking it tight. A few minutes later she emerged from the refresher, dressed for combat, strapped on her belt with her lightsaber in the holster, and perched on the edge of her bed, watching the window like a hawk.

She was waiting.

...

A strong wind rocked the building slightly. Katherii bolted awake, finding that she'd fallen asleep again waiting for the next ghost to show up. Would there really be another one? She honestly wasn't sure if she'd simply dreamed the whole thing.

When the wind was silent again for a few seconds, she got up and tiptoed in her combat boots toward the window, peering out.

Outside, the snow was blowing around as wildly as before. "Oh, no you don't," she muttered. She stationed herself against the wall, arms up and lightsaber in hand, ready to fight to keep her window shut.

Abruptly, a boot kicked the window open from the outside, causing it to fly back and hit her square in the face.

"Ow!" she rubbed her eye dazedly. Someone leaped in overhead, through the window, and dropped into the room in a crouch.

So much for ghostly. Anakin had pulled that off just a little better, she figured. This person even had some hazy color to her blue skin, rather than the pale white her—she squirmed—grandfather—had.

The woman crouched on her floor turned to face her, getting nimbly to her feet. She smiled, her lekku falling gracefully down her back as she did so. "There you are!" she said warmly, in a thick accent Katherii knew was native to Ryloth.

The woman spun around, a high kick slamming the window shut again. At least this ghost was polite enough to clean up after herself. She held out her hand to Katherii. "Master Aayla Secura," she introduced herself. "Nice to meet you in person."

Katherii lifted her eyebrows. "I'm not taking your hand! You're another ghost—I'll pass right through you like last time."

"Just take it," Master Secura assured her.

Grudgingly, she reached out and took it. It was solid.

The Jedi Master smiled at her surprised look. "What did I tell you?"

She straightened herself and moved to sit on the bed, just like Anakin had. Katherii awkwardly stood by her window with a glistening black eye.

"Miss Skywalker," she began seriously, "I like to be very straight with people. Tell me. What do you know about your mother and father?"

Katherii shrugged, leaning against the bedpost. "What they looked like."

"And?"

"Not much!" she exclaimed. "They were Jedi, obviously. Really good ones. And apparently, it was because they followed all the rules," she grimaced. "No one ever mentions that they MADE the rules to begin with."

Aayla listened attentively, eyebrows raised.

"They left like, this—" Katherii stared at her. "You know this already!"

Aayla was expressionless. "I don't know your side of the story."

She huffed. "They left, like, this huge legacy, whatever that's supposed to mean. And for some reason, I'm supposed to carry it on, even though I barely knew them and I'm nothing like them." She moved to sit beside her on the bed. "But when I try to explain that to Uncle Han, it gets him all riled up because he's not like me, either; he knew my parents super well, and so in HIS mind, he doesn't understand why anyone would NOT want to follow in their EXACT footsteps."

"Your Uncle Han made many foolish decisions when he was younger. He missed out on many good things. He traveled the galaxy for years, stealing and cheating and smuggling, trying to find some meaning for his life. He saw the worst that the galaxy had to offer, and he was proud that he was always able to avoid the fate that met so many in his line of work." She laid a hand on Katherii's knee. "But that never got him anywhere. Your father was the person who convinced him that there was a better way to live, and that it was possible for him to change. Han sees you making some of the same decisions that he himself made years ago. He feels that if your father were here, he would be able to change your mind. He misses your father very much. It's difficult for him when he cannot discuss this with you."

Katherii's eyes were downcast. Somehow, for her, it was just as hard to imagine her Uncle Han as someone her own age as it was to see her grandfather appear before her so young. "How can I understand him if he can't understand me? He's an old dude. He's always been old. As long as I've been around, he's been old," she complained.

"Have you never wanted to know more about your parents?" Aayla asked her earnestly. "The stories. The little details. The small things they did that make them come alive to you; that you can connect yourself to. Your Uncle Han knows all these things better than anyone else. You can ask him. He would love to share what he knows with you."

"Really?" she looked up at her skeptically.

"Take my word for it," Aayla smiled. Then, more to herself, "After all, I am a ghost."

Katherii huffed in exasperation. "The only thing Uncle Han wants out of me is to start following all the rules at the Academy, and maybe some good grades along with that. What will he care if his 'little renegade' starts asking him for _stories_?"

"That's the side of him YOU see," Aayla insisted. "I see a lot more. Watch him closely." She got a sparkle in her eye and leaned in closely. "You are a woman of the Force. You can learn to see _right through_ him."

Katherii grinned impulsively, trying not to laugh.

"You have your father's smile!" Aayla exclaimed.

She shot bolt upright.

"And your mother's impulse," she added.

Katherii flopped down on the bed, hands behind her head, thinking. "You're kidding," she grinned, at last. It was the first time, maybe since she'd started getting in so much trouble, that someone had thought to tell her she was like her parents. She'd grown so used to assuming she was nothing like them at all.

Aayla smiled knowingly, then sighed. "It is time for me to go. It's dangerous for those who are one with the Force just before daybreak."

"Dangerous?" Katherii's brow furrowed.

"I have been designed for another world," Aayla informed her serious. "Recently we found out that Vladimir the Shygoe has been experimenting with instruments designed to pull those who are one with the Force back into their first bodies; back into this world to live and die a second time."

Katherii was silent. She knew, better than Aayla did, that Vladimir the Shygoe was a Sith lord, the very one who had blown up the building her parents were in.

She'd heard the story before. Her father had been wounded, her mother too busy fighting off enemy guards in their attempt to rescue a political prisoner named Lux Bonteri, the friend of a friend. It had been a trap. The explosion had killed them almost instantly.

"You have no idea how we spirits dread the idea of coming back to this world, now that we are used to the better one," Aayla explained.

Katherii looked at her, amazed.

"But we needn't worry much about that…" Aayla's voice trailed off. "You have one more visit to go. Are you up for it?"

"Uh …I guess—so," she replied quietly. She stared down at her bed quilt.

"Don't worry, Katherii. You are in for a great surprise."

"Great," Katherii replied softly, only a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Aayla opened up the window, letting in a rush of cold air before hopping up on the ledge and disappearing into the night.

Katherii got up from her bed to stare after her as she disappeared swiftly into a cloud of snow, and blew out of sight. She sighed, shivering from the cold air, and sealed the door shut again.

Her holo showed that it was 6 in the morning. The sun would be rising soon, but not quite yet.

She began pacing back and forth in front of the window, looking out every few minutes. Waiting for her last visit.

She stopped when she saw a faint, orange glow reflecting in the window. The light was coming from behind her.

Katherii froze, sensing what was there before she ever turned around.

"Dad," she whispered.

She turned around, and there he was. Luke Skywalker, as real as they came. In fact, he didn't even bear the resemblance of a ghost. Dressed in gold, with a flowing red cape, his eyes crinkled in a smile as he held his arms out to her.

"You came!" she whispered. "Anakin said you wouldn't come!"

Luke shook his head good-naturedly. "And yet, he came himself. What was he thinking? He likes to mess with some people."

Katherii ran to him, and he caught her up in a tight embrace. He was so real, it was as if he were completely alive. Maybe—even _more_ than alive.

"I kind of deserved it," she sniffed, held tightly against his robe. "He was right. You gave me a legacy and I haven't used it like I should have."

Luke smiled, holding her at arm's length. "You know, he told me the same thing, once."

She gave him a confused look. The wisecracking guy who she'd talked with a few minutes ago? Bossing around her regal-looking dad, who looked every bit the man she'd expected him to look like?

"Who does he think he is?" she blurted without thinking.

Luke simply laughed. "My father!" he pointed out.

"Darth Vader!" she added.

"He's still my father," he pointed out. "He's got a right to tell me whatever he thinks. He told it to me _good_ a while back, a few months after you were born."

"Why?"

Luke looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, that's not—something you need to know right now. But, uh, I wasn't treating your cousins with the respect that I should have. I wanted to put Anakin and Tahiri in charge of the Order long before I actually died, and Anakin wasn't ready for it. I was in a pretty big mess with him. And Father showed up, scared me to death, and then showed me how to make things right. And it worked."

"And then you built up like, this huge legacy."

"Oh, no!" he shook his head, "Not at all. After that it was my _mother_ coming to me because—you see, I wouldn't trust ANYBODY with my precious baby girl."

Katherii grinned, totally overcome by this turn of events.

"I was totally paranoid when you were a toddler," he smiled at her, remembering. "Mara Jade didn't know anything about kids, and I didn't really know anything either. You were a curious kid, always into everything. Including things like—weapons, and medications, and long flights of very hard-surfaced staircases." A corner of his mouth quirked up in a smile.

Katherii couldn't restrain a laugh. "What—what did you mom—my grandmother, right? What did she tell you?"

"Padmé told me that I had to learn to trust that you would be taken care of, even when I wasn't there watching you every second. That I couldn't sit around and waste my whole life worrying about you. I didn't realize it then, but that was a hint. She was trying to tell me I didn't have much time left. No, I didn't purposefully spend much time building a legacy for you, sweetheart. I didn't have much time for that."

Katherii was quiet for a moment, gazing down at her hands on her lap. "How come they say I have to carry on your legacy, then?" she asked quietly.

Luke smiled. "'Legacy' is a word that doesn't really mean a lot in itself. What I left you was an opportunity. It's up to you whether you take it or not. What I don't want to see, from up there, is that you refuse to become a Jedi just because you're afraid you won't be as good as the ones who came before you. Me. Your mother. Anyone."

"I'm not afraid to fail," she scrunched up her nose, thinking through concepts she'd never been bold enough to face before. "I just can't get myself to want the work. It's hard and it's no fun, honestly."

"You don't want to take on all the work because you think you'll fail?"

She shook her head. "I don't think I'm cut out to be a Jedi," she explained honestly.

"You've got this idea of what a Jedi is supposed to look like, and it's boring and methodical and narrow-minded," he pointed out. "Do you mean to say, that after seeing the way my dad STILL behaves, even though he's _one with the Force_ , you still think that all Jedi Masters have to be somber and miserable and grey-haired?"

Katherii couldn't restrain a slight smirk. Luke was starting to remind her of Uncle Han. She'd never guessed that maybe they'd really been THAT close; that their personalities maybe had rubbed off on each other just like hers and her friends' sometimes did.

Remembering what kinds of friends she'd chosen for herself recently, she hung her head in shame.

"Look," Luke told her gently, "You have to be the kind of Jedi that YOU are, not that somebody else is. And when you do that, your training will no longer seem impossible. You won't fail. Ever. Not to me."

A smile broke across her face and she wrapped her arms around his waist, holding onto him. Luke hugged her back, pressing a kiss to the top of her hair.

She couldn't believe how relieved she felt. All this time she'd pretended that she didn't care what her elders thought of her. Yet, now a huge weight lifted off her chest, just knowing that, for whatever reason, her dad was actually proud of her.

She stayed there in his arms for a long time. The light from his appearance died down. The moon, instead, shone through the windows as the snow continued to fall quietly outside.

A disturbance in the Force suddenly caused them both to start up, alarmed.

"What's that?" Katherii whispered, eyes darting to the window.

Luke was silent for a moment. When he knew for sure, he answered steadily, "Vladimir."

"You have to leave before he finds you!" she gasped.

"I'm not the only one!" he exclaimed. "Get down, and stay there 'till I tell you."

Katherii dropped to the floor, watching closely as Luke cracked open the window and climbed out, shutting it behind him tightly. She slid up against the wall beneath it, crouching to remain hidden and praying as hard as she could that nothing would happen to her dad, who had already finished his battles. He didn't deserve to have to go through another one.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Outside, Luke immediately sensed the droids behind him. He whipped around, using the Force to pummel it to the ground. It was of a height that came to his shoulder, with black, skeletal armor. Two more were coming from the opposite direction.

Luke turned to confront them, but one ignited a strange-looking lightsaber. It had a long, bright white blade and struck Luke with it, causing both of them to disappear into midair.

Katherii bit back a gasp. The droids sauntered over to the window, looking for anyone else. When they unlatched the window, she immediately ignited her orange lightsaber, thrusting it through the first droid's face, pulling back, and launching it at the second one. He was immediately pulverized.

She leaped out the window, having not sensed any others nearby. She quickly grabbed and extinguished her lightsaber, sticking it back on her belt before she turned toward the long, white one that was still humming busily in the snow.

The blade was longer than she was tall. She turned her saber back on and touched the two blades together carefully, wincing as she did so. The white blade went right through the orange one without a sound.

Then she swung the white blade in a large arc, along the snowy ground and then the side of the building, but it didn't leave any damage, not even a mark.

Finally, taking a deep breath, she held it up with her own hand. The blade made contact with her skin and everything flashed white around her.

...

Katherii landed in the middle of a dark room. The only light came from a window behind her, through which the light of the moons shone brightly. Too brightly. Her eyes widened as she turned to look out.

Outside, the stars sparkled across a backdrop of blackness. She was in orbit around the planet.

Looking down, she could see that she was still intact— and accidently dropped the lightsaber. It clattered loudly to the floor.

With a jump, she looked up, straight ahead, where a dark silhouette became visible as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. He turned around, then snapped his fingers, flipping on a light.

It was Vladimir himself, tall, scaly, and Dug-like with his familiar long claws and thick, writhing neck.

His dark eyes narrowed suspiciously as he glanced around the room, but he couldn't see Katherii or the lightsaber.

She was hiding on the bottom shelf of a cabinet, not three feet away, holding in her breath, not daring to make even that small of a sound.

Vladimir shrugged and turned to a small control panel facing a dark corner of the room. He flipped a switch and an overhead light came on in the corner, revealing her dad trapped in a circular hypoelectric ray generator. He stood in the center, glaring darkly at the villain.

"How did you figure out how to do this?" Luke spoke first.

Vladimir snarled a reply in his deep, hoarse tones. "I borrowed it from your friend, Professor _Zan Arbor_ ," he explained, indicating the generator. "I must say, I am extremely indebted to your nephew, Anakin Solo, for killing her. I have been trying to steal her files for decades. It was my lucky break," he gestured dramatically.

Luke choked back an incredulous laugh. "What do you hope to gain?" he exclaimed.

Vladimir rolled his eyes. "Revenge, obviously."

"Never complete, is it?"

"This time it will be!" he snarled angrily. "I will kill you with my own hands instead of watching you pop like a firecracker from a distance. It makes all the difference in the world."

Luke shook his head. "Shygoe, there is another Jedi in this room right now."

Katherii's eyes widened.

"You are not in control of this situation," he continued. "Stop this now, before you lose yourself and everything else you own to your ambitions."

"Lose myself!" he scoffed. "I knew there was another Jedi in here! A powerful one, too," he added, peering around with a sinister gaze.

Katherii slid out from under the shelf and took a few quiet steps towards Vladimir's turned back. Then she ignited her lightsaber.

Vladimir whirled around in fear, but when he saw her, his eyes widened and he began to laugh.

"A child?!" he chuckled, turning to Luke.

Luke stared him down evenly. "Call her whatever you want. She's ten times as powerful as you'll ever be."

Vladimir cleared his throat nervously. "In that case, I will win this battle intellectually."

He pulled out his double-bladed lightsaber, seemingly contradicting himself, and lunged for Katherii while igniting both blades. She blocked his strike, moving even faster than the double-speed blows that came at her, and advanced on him.

The heat of the sabers turned to smoke as their tangled blades struck the sides of the ship. Vladimir used his superior strength to trap her single blade while he struck out at her legs, forcing her to tumble over backwards.

Katherii gasped as her arms started to crumble under his weight, straining to overcome her resistance and strike her down for good. She'd never overpower him like this. Sliding forward, she kicked at him with both legs, sending him over her head, and flipped back up on her feet, turning to confront him again.

Vladimir advanced in rage, grabbing her arm right where was bandaged and holding it back so she couldn't strike at him. She gripped her lightsaber with both hands, ground her teeth, and with all her might, threw herself out of his grip.

Thrown off-balance, he went flying backward and only just managed to stop himself by grasping his control panel.

He thrust a scaly claw over a lever, hovering it as he glanced toward Luke. "Don't come near me, Jedi," he hissed, "or he's finished."

Sneering back, Katherii circled around him, trying to decide what to do.

Luke eyed his murderer. "Let him pull it, Kathy," he told her, with a calm conviction.

She lunged forward. Vladimir yanked down the lever and dove out of the way. The rays holding Luke captive suddenly shut down. His form immediately changed. He became a completely mortal human again, but he looked far more like a ghost than he did before. His face was suddenly scarred and bruised and his clothing tattered from the explosion that had killed him, so many years before.

Katherii stopped and stared at him in shock. "NO!" she screamed.

Luke fell from the generator onto the floor, where he collapsed and remained, motionless.

A cruel smile appeared on Vladimir's face. He used the Force to pull the lightsaber right out of Katherii's hand and approached her with both of their swords raised, ready to strike her down.

"My young Jedi," he mocked her. "Your power avails to nothing. You are going to fail."

Katherii backed up, stunned with fear, until she could feel the wall pressed up against her back.

She took a deep breath. Looking to the floor, at her father; struggling for his final breaths for the second time, because he'd come back to help her. She resisted the urge to hang her head in shame.

Instead she remembered his words from earlier. _"You won't fail. Ever. Not to me."_

She stood again in determination. He was right there. He would know what she had done. She didn't want him to see her give up now.

She lunged forward, taking Vladimir by surprise and mustering the Force into a single, pummeling blow, pushing him so hard he went flying into the window of the ship. The glass shattered and he tumbled out into space, screaming her name in curses as he was sucked out into the vacuum.

He was gone, never to be seen again.

The air in the room all went rushing out the broken window. Katherii slipped and just managed to catch on to the control panel before flying out into space. She crawled, hands and knees to keep herself still on the ship, over to Luke. "Dad? Dad!" She lifted his head off the ground and cradled it in her hands. He breathed a little, so she knew he was alive. She started to cry. "Don't leave me! I won't ever see you again!"

Luke's blue eyes slid open, halfway, and rested on her. "Yes, you will," he whispered, weakly. A hand reached up and touched her hair.

"No!" she sniffled through her tears. "I'm not good enough to go where you live," she confessed.

"Nobody is," he said, surprising her. "Not you, or me, or anyone—else. I'll see you there."

"No," she repeated, in a choked, warbling voice.

"I love you, Katherii."

Her hands started to shake as she sobbed and his eyes slipped closed.

The air was still rushing out of the window. The speed picked up, and Katherii suddenly lost her traction on the floor. She made an inhuman squawking noise as she suddenly went flying out the window after Vladimir.

Groping at the last minute, she barely managed to catch onto the edge. The broken glass cut into her fingers as she held onto her grip for dear life.

A blinding flash of light suddenly appeared ahead of her in the room. Han appeared, looking incredibly confused and holding another of the strange white lightsabers.

He was quickly sucked out the window and found himself hanging on next to Katherii. The two stared at each other in shock.

"WHAT are you doing HERE?!" the two screamed at each other simultaneously.

Katherii gasped, feeling her handhold starting to slip and the air that just wouldn't come into her lungs anymore.

Then she spotted her lightsaber. It was jammed into a crack, just outside the ship, barely out of reach. She reached out with one hand and her lightsaber flew into it. Struggling to hold her breath, she managed to ignite it, thrust the blade down inside the ship, and penetrate the floor.

Han grabbed her around the waist and threw both of them to the side just as a blaster bold exploded next to them, searing the hot metal instead of what would have been them.

Katherii's head whipped around to see another ship, one of Vladimir's fleet that had apparently seen their leader thrown out of the window, aiming its forward guns at them. She gripped the handle of her lightsaber with both hands, heaving them both into the damaged ship. She lay on the floor, straining for air and feeling her head starting to pound behind her eyes as blackness threatened to take her for lack of oxygen.

Han flattened himself against the wall and grabbed a large piece of metal Vladimir had apparently been using for his experimentation. With a bloodied hands, he turned it sideways, angled it toward the window, and let go.

Katherii's eyes snapped open. The sheet flattened against the gigantic hole, mostly abating the vacuum pressure.

Han ran toward the nearest door and pressed the button, causing a release of pressure once again. As air filled the room once again, both of them gasped in relief, Katherii draping an arm across her aching lungs.

Han slowly made his way toward her and put his arm around her shoulders, helping her to her feet. A sudden shot from the other ship knocked the whole room off-balance and they stumbled on their way toward the door.

"Let's find the cockpit," Han breathed.

Standing on her shaking legs, Katherii looked back at where Luke's body had been only moments before. She hadn't seen him fly out the window, but either way, he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The door to the cockpit hissed open and Han and Katherii stepped inside. Han immediately swung himself into the captain's chair, totally relaxed as if their entire life-or-death experience had never happened. Or maybe he was just pretending for her sake.

"Now, let's see," he muttered to himself. "We're going to have to do some fancy flying to get us out of _here_. Have you ever been in a ship like this before?"

Katherii stared at him, still standing.

He frowned. "Never mind." He turned back to the controls and continued his ramblings. "This is only a Rylom 4-66, as opposed to a Rylom 4-86, so the locking mechanism is in the back instead of up here in the front, which means you will have to go back there and push it before we can move at—"

"It's unlocked!" she called up from the back.

Han stared at her as she made her way back and strapped herself into the seat beside his.

"You're fast!" he exclaimed, his tone almost accusing.

Halfway into staring him down again, Katherii couldn't help but explode into a huge grin. WHY did he have to be such a goofball and always make her laugh when she didn't want to?!

He grinned back. After pushing a few buttons, the ship jerked, then soared off away from the moon's orbit. The other two ships followed them, blaster fire going everywhere. Han slowed dramatically, tricking the two ships into racing on ahead of him. He shot one down, but the other banked too quickly.

Han fought to get the guns rotated fast enough.

"Four-o-clock!" Katherii screamed, pointing.

Han blasted it out of the air and the whole ship exploded into a shower of sparks.

The two of them grasped for each other in excitement, Han letting out a victory whoop. Katherii suddenly burst into tears.

Her uncle was confused. "Wait, why are you crying?"

"I'be had a long night," she blubbered, sniffling and wiping at her swollen eyelids with blood still covering her hands.

"Yeah," Han drew out slowly, remembering all that had actually taken place. The party, the police station, weird disappearing acts, and getting sucked out into space before all this. "C'mere." He took her in his arms, avoiding putting pressure on his own damaged hands.

"You don't know half of it," she sobbed, clutching at his arm and draping her chin over his shoulder. "I'm so—so sorry! You'll never bel—believe me when I tell you wh—what happened."

"Yeah, well," he sighed, "I wouldn't go making assumptions if I were you. 'Course, I'm not you."

She sniffed loudly. "W—whaddaya mean?"

"Well," he shrugged, his tone awkward for a moment. "After all," he continued, "my parents are gone too, you know."

Katherii pulled back and stared at him. "You mean—!" she gasped.

Han nodded slowly. "My mom came to see me, right after your— uh, screaming break." A slight smirk started to grow on his face.

Katherii laughed right through her tears. "Your—mother?!" she belted out.

He shrugged again. "Luke thought of everything. Even me."

Katherii's sobs died down and she hugged him again.

"Oh, Kathy." Han pulled her onto his lap and held her there, for a long time.

...

Katherii stood in a fighting pose in front of her cousin Anakin Solo, Grand Master of the New Jedi Order. Several other Jedi stood in the room, holding pieces of grey-colored wood. A drone hovered in the corner, waiting to strike at her any second.

Anakin levelled his gaze at her, giving her a nod to adjust her focus as he held her timer in his hand, ready to go.

A buzzer sounded and Katherii burst to life, throwing a spinning kick to the board closest to her and leaping around the room to break the other boards with additional, smoothly connected strikes. She fluidly pulled out her lightsaber, deflecting several shots from the drone while coming down on the last board. Finally, her feet landed on the floor at the other end of the room. Breathing hard, but with a huge grin on her face, she extinguished her lightsaber.

Anakin was watching the timer like he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Kathy!" he exclaimed.

She started laughing.

"Kathy, Kathy, Kathy!"

"How much did I beat my time by?" Wiping her forehead, she scampered over to peer over his shoulder.

"You broke our current record by a full half-second. That's amazing!" Anakin stared at her. "Not to be weird, but—where'd that come from? You had to have worked for that. Really hard."

Katherii shrugged it off, turning away. "Least I'll have some real news for Aunt Leia when she comes home tonight."

Anakin shook his head, smiling. "You sure will, dear." He slung his arm around her shoulders and they started walking out together, the other Jedi following. "You know," he said after a minute, "You don't have to stay at the Academy forever if you don't like working with the Jedi. I know you could have a great experience at University."

Katherii smiled at him, incredulous. "Could you have suggested that a month ago, when I _wanted_ to go to the university?"

"You weren't ready to make that decision then," he replied wisely.

Katherii reached up and ruffled his long, black hair. He may be some fancy-shmancy Jedi Master but to her, he was still just her cousin. "You're right. But now—Hm. It's a good idea. If I do leave, I'll definitely be coming back. No question there. What would I do without having my cousin around to annoy all the time?"

Anakin smiled, still surprised at the change in her.

"Anyway," she continued, "thanks, Ani. I'll see you in Naturalism this afternoon."

She started to leave and Anakin stared after her, again. "You're taking _Naturalism? You?"_

"Uh, yeah."

"I thought you hated that class! You completely bummed out of it last year!"

"Well, I have to take it," she shrugged, turning back around. "Might as well get it over with. And anyway, I've been talking with some different folks lately, and they say it isn't bad. Like Cheedon, and Mai. I'm giving it a chance," she grinned.

Anakin cleared his throat rather loudly. "Is Lanie still…"

"Oh, I dumped Lanie. He's not super upset about it, so I think it was an excellent move," she sniffed, a little primly.

"Okay—" Anakin lifted a finger for a second, thinking he must've forgotten to do something important that morning, like screw his ears on properly. "Um, see you in Naturalism, then…"

"See ya there, Cuz." She turned around, striding confidently down the hall. It wasn't an act this time, though. She'd taken to heart what Grandfather Anakin and Aayla had said. And what Luke had—she'd strive to make that part of her very soul.

It felt so much better to be part of something bigger than herself, and to know that no matter how well she succeeded or failed at her work, somebody would always love her no matter what.

How could she not have seen that before? When life was all about her.

She grinned a little to herself, a small, sideways grin.

She couldn't wait to see what would happen when Mara Jade decided to pay her a visit.

THE END


End file.
